You Bleed for Me, I'll Bleed for You
by Sebe
Summary: Dean's chosen his side. And yea, it was always just that simple. Post 4.22. Reviews are much loved


Disclaimer: Don't own Supernatural

Summary: Dean's choses his side

**You Bleed For Me I'll Bleed For You**

"They didn't think there'd be any light left in me".

Dean didn't move from his position sitting next to his brother.

"Who thought that, Sam?"

Sam was in Dean's peripheral vision, sprawled out next to his brother on his back, staring up at the night sky with wide curious eyes. The younger ones fingers danced along and scratched at the grass, digging in a bit as his expression changed to one of confusion; like he was trying to grasp something just out of his reach.

"The stars told me that's what they thought", he said decidedly, looking unsure at first at his own answer and then nodding to himself in confirmation. "Yea, that's defiantly what they said. It's just hard to hear tonight".

Dean watched his brother's eyes skitter from one spot in the sky to the next.

"Why's it hard to hear them? You don't usually have trouble, right?" His voice was gentle.

Sam got that confused, irritated look on his face again.

"They can't decide whose turn it is to talk so they're all yelling at once and I can't make out any of them." Sam huffed and made a frustrated growling noise in his throat. "Too much, too loud, too bright, too proud."

Dean closed his eyes as he listened to his brother's lilting, sing-song tone. Just as quick, the distraught look left Sam's face as he twisted his body and tilted his head back a bit to look at Dean with wide, innocent eyes and a half-mad smile.

"The tragic young played while Babylon burned".

Dean almost liked it when Sam was like this. Not all there, sure, but not completely gone either. It was better than the death-like catatonia or lunatic spells of endless thrashing and screams that left his throat raw and bleeding. Those times when all Dean could do was help Bobby hold his little brother down with tears in his eyes, begging _begging_ for Sam to stop, to _see_ him.

To come back to him.

"The wind stopped and the seas turned to rust. Heaven froze and still they sang".

After killing Ruby, Dean had tried to drag the dazed Sam from the monetary, but they didn't get far.

'Of course.' Dean thought, 'You can't outrun the devil'.

Dean found himself frozen to the spot much like Sam as they watched this…_thing_…this being that for all intents and purposes looked every bit the part of human (but for the vague smoke-like appearance) step towards them.

Well, towards Sam. He didn't seem to acknowledge Dean at all.

Dean could only watch as Lucifer, _fucking Lucifer_, put his hand to Sam's face and brushed his hair from hazel eyes with those wispy tendrils of fingers.

"Don't fucking touch him!" Dean roared and _Jesus_, he must have been insane because he was threatening the devil, THE devil. But Dean didn't care. He was too close to Sam, too close, too close.

"Thank you Sam." Lucifer's voice was gentle, reverent, as he spoke to Sam. The fallen angel stroked the tender skin under the boy's tear-filled eye with his thumb. "You set me free".

Sam, for his part, was stock still, staring into Lucifer's eyes with fear and resignation and soul-shattering heartbreak.

"I'll give you the world", the devil purred. "I'll give you gold and silk and your place at my side." He slid impossibly closer to Sam, "I owe you everything, child. I could have never done this without your power."

"Shut up!" Dean couldn't take it; he could hear his brother breaking further under Lucifer's words of gratitude. "Just shut the hell up! Sam! Sammy! Listen to me! You're not this jackasses pet! You're not evil; you're not his lap dog or his 'Boy King'!"

'Please Sammy, please, listen to me. Snap out of it'.

"You're my little brother, my constant! The baby I held in my arms and carried out of the fire!" Dean's eyes were cloudy. "I won't let him do this to you! I won't let him hurt you like this!" Dean was breathing hard, voice choked as he ground out, "You're not _his_ Sammy. _You're mine_."

Face still cradled by the Devil's hands, Sam's shimmering eyes slid slowly toward his brother.

"Dean…"

His voice was barely a whisper, but it was enough for hope to swell in Dean's chest.

It was also apparently enough to warrant attention from Lucifer.

Narrowed black eyes turned in his direction and power crackled visibly around him. Dean stopped breathing for a moment.

'Oh, shit'.

Apparently the Ruler of Hell didn't like his Prince's attention being divided.

"No…No! Don't hurt him!" The danger to his big brother obviously enough to snap Sam out of his stupor, the shaggy-haired boy lunged out to grasp Lucifer's wispy shadow-like arm that was extending toward Dean. "No. You said you owed me. That you'd give me anything. Don't hurt my brother. Don't, don't…"

Lucifer turned and smiled indulgently at Sam, like a parent placating a child.

"He has too much power over you Sam. You care for him too much. He can't be allowed to exist." Sam was already screaming. "It'll be quick, I promise. He won't suffer". He hushed through Sam's screams and pleas.

'I'm dead. I'm dead.' Dean thought, 'Lucifer…I don't have a chance. And then he'll have Sam…'

Dean saw the smoky figure move closer to him.

'Sammy…I'm sorry Sammy. God, I'm sorry little brother'

Dean felt himself flung backward and braced himself…for a surprisingly soft landing. Dean's confused gaze met with Lucifer's seemingly bewildered and betrayed expression before settling on Sam who was trembling and breathing heavily.

"Sammy?"

A loud bang a moment later as the heavy cathedral doors burst open and drew the attention of all three.

In walked a righteously pissed-off Anna trailed by Castiel, both looking a little worse for wear.

"Get away from the boy", Castiel ordered, jaw and shoulders tense. "Get away from Sam".

Anna helped Dean up.

"Get your brother and run. We'll distract him as best we can".

Dean didn't argue, already up and moving as the angels stared one another down. Dean knew they had no chance, but he just needed a minute, just a minute to get Sam and get out. But old Zacky must have been telling the truth about God being out of the office at the moment because he couldn't even get that much.

There were no visible signs of power, no bells or whistles or shiny lights or crackling energy. But there must have been some major unseen shit going down because the building around them shook like it was built on a fault line.

Dean was ready for something epic, something, well, Apocalyptic.

But then it stopped, just stopped. Whatever had been going on, whatever unseen forces were gathering just stopped. Neutralized. There was only the barest hint of confusion written on the angel's faces, but Dean knew.

'Sam'

Sam's fists were clenched at his sides and he was shaking. Blood poured from his nose, mouth, his ears. His eyes were narrowed in pain, but determined and focused on Dean.

Always on his big brother.

Then everything happened in slow motion. Probably just so Dean could remember every detail and play it over and over again in his head because apparently, Winchesters were born with 'torture me' signs on their backs.

Dean turned to Sam who rushed toward Dean, Lucifer went for his boy-king, and the angels lunged for Lucifer.

The devil was fastest.

Dean didn't even have time to yell, but Sam managed to; a last desperate plea to his brother.

"Run!"

And then they were gone.

All of them.

Dean found himself in mid sprint in a field with Anna and Castiel.

Sam and Lucifer were nowhere in sight.

"No!" he roared. "No! You take me back! You take me back to him!" He spat, grabbing Castiel by the collar and shaking him viciously.

"Dean."

"Put me back dammit!"

"Dean, we didn't leave." Anna desperately interjected. She looked a bit shaken up. "We didn't do it. Sam did. Sam sent us away. He put us out of Lucifer's reach."

"You're wrong! He doesn't know how to do that. He can't do that." Dean didn't even know what he was saying anymore. Desperation, fear, anger, exhaustion, and a god-awful sorrow burning through him. "Where's Sam? Where's Sam? Where's Sam…"

Castiel looked down ashamedly. Anna laid a hand on Dean's shoulder.

"He won't kill him Dean. Lucifer needs Sam. He won't kill him. Let go."

It took Dean a minute to realize he was still clenching Castiels' coat in his fists.

He pushed the angel away and staggered back dazedly.

"Dean? Dean. Dean…"

"Sammy, Sammy, oh god, Sammy."

He collapsed to his knees and sobbed.

There wasn't too much out of the ordinary after that. Well, out of the ordinary for hunters anyway. No increase in possessions, suicides, murders, no rivers running red with blood or toads falling from the sky…

Nothing to indicate that the King of Fuck-All Evil had just risen.

Anna told him that if Lucifer managed to take Sam as his vessel, well, basically "Abandon all hope ye who enter here".

Sam's powers weren't like any other. He was special among the special. Carefully selected and manipulated by Azazel, Ruby, Zachariah –probably everything they'd ever encountered- to be the perfect vessel for The Light Bearer.

And the powers that were on their side, few as they may be, had no clue what Sam was; where he and his brother and their entire family were being led from day one.

'Of course. Fuckin' demons. Fuckin' angels. Always a day late'.

Dean glanced over at his brother again.

'Sammy…'

It had taken over a month, _a month_, to track Sam down. A month that Sam was held captive and tortured by Lucifer-loyal demons. A month of a pissed-off-that-Sam-wouldn't-willingly-help-him-Lucifer trying to break into Sam's mind, into his body. A month long war of two in Sam's head that left the surrounding landscape devastated.

Castiel said it was amazing Sam had managed to maintain control. That he _shouldn't_ have been able to resist.

And there were other things said too. How lucky they were to find him at all; how Lucifer had begrudgingly gone to search for another less perfect, less powerful vessel after failing to get Sam, what advantages they had now because Sam had fought.

Of course Dean only thought he may have heard those things, he couldn't be sure. Because the moment he laid eyes on his bleeding and broken -broken in so many ways- baby brother curled up so impossibly small in the corner of that crumbling warehouse; he heard, saw, felt, and _sensed_ nothing but Sam.

Sam's whimpers at being moved, just being touched; Sam's eyes that wouldn't, or couldn't, focus on anything; Sam's blood washing over his fingers as it ran down from his shredded back and god knew where else. Sam. Dean's senses were solely on Sam.

Even when Bobby moved to help get Sam on his brother's back so Dean could carry him out, all the older brother could think was, 'Sam. I got Sam. He's shaken up, but he's fine. I got Sam. I can fix this. I can fix this…'

"Do crickets scream when they die? Eyes like humans, but bodies like leaves."

But he couldn't. Not really.

"You're lying, you're lying. The moon told me so." Hissed viciously, but not at Dean. The green-eyed man was used to the sudden turns in conversation. "They whisper like snakes in my ear and slither back toward the night".

Castiel and Anna had tried, but they couldn't do anything for Sam. Not. A. Damn. Thing.

"_His mind's been touched by Lucifer Dean. I can't fix this"._

Dean hadn't seen much of Castiel since then. Probably because he had grabbed every even remotely threatening object around him and hurled it at the angel in rage; wanting to hurt him, wanting him to suffer for the part he played in turning Sam into this. He finally just screamed at the angel to leave if he couldn't help.

Bobby and Dean had called Missouri. She came to Bobby's immediately to look at a, then still catatonic, Sam.

"_Oh, Dean. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_ He hated her a little.

She had explained it as best she could. She said to think of Sam's mind as being separated by glass barriers; walls constructed subconsciously to keep most of his power locked away, able to be released slowly as he learned to control them.

She said being in his head was like walking through a mine field. All of the barriers were just shattered and all of that power unleashed at once.

"_It was too much, too quick."_ She had said. _"Empathy, telekinesis, precognition, and god knows what else. All these walls being broken down and him fighting to keep the devil out,"_ Missouri shook her head. _"All Sam could do was jumble it up so much that Lucifer couldn't control him. He locked himself away in his own mind"_

Dean couldn't imagine it. What Sam had gone through, what he had to go through still.

The visions were back. Murders, suicides, and Sam felt them now. _Felt _the people he saw die. He didn't sleep, didn't eat; he was barely coherent most times. A million voices echoed in his head at any given moment. All screaming for attention, for help, for blood.

It all left Sam decidedly less than stable.

Dean and Bobby once had a rather loud disagreement in the study at one point and all the light bulbs in the house burst, windows exploded, and books and weapons started flying around Bobby's house. They found Sam cross-legged on the ground, rocking back and forth violently and clutching his head.

After that the two men quickly decided it was not a good idea to argue with one another as it seemed to upset Sam. And upsetting him in this state was hazardous for everyone involved.

"Ready to go in Sammy? Missouri's making lunch."

"I don't like when they watch me. Their eyes are poison".

Dean felt Sam brush against his mind gently and that was the one thing he decided he liked about all this. Sam couldn't really keep coherent thoughts together long enough to tell him much of anything. Lucid moments were short, few, and far between, but he had this. Sam could tell him whatever he wanted to convey with just a wisp of his thoughts against his mind and Dean was pretty sure it worked the other way too.

"Little longer then" Dean decided.

So Lucifer was free and on the prowl for a host. Angels stopped by from time to time to harass Dean either for his help or Sam's, but he and Bobby just added angel repelling sigils to the already present demon repelling ones (with Anna's help of course). And demons stalked about the perimeter most times trying to get at Lucifer's intended vessel and perhaps gain some glory by taming Sammy.

But Dean was here, with Sam, content to watch his brother try to heal. Even though, pained as he was to admit it even in his own mind, deep down, he knew Sam would never be _Sam_ again.

Dean would join in the fight if he had to, but he wasn't leaving Sam. Even with Lucifer free, without his intended vessel, he was off balance, weaker than expected. There was no imminent, looming cataclysm and Dean was sure the Winchesters would be the first alerted when such news was heard. No, hunting was the furthest thing from Dean's mind right now.

Dean looked down to a hand tugging on his amulet and wide eyes examining it for about the thousandth time.

"Dean. Dean. Dean…" Sam murmured

Dean smiled and tilted his little brother's head up to catch his wandering eyes that were headed off again.

"I'm here Sam. I'm here. You're okay."

Dean pulled Sam toward him, the shaggy head resting against his shoulder as he felt his brother drift off somewhere he couldn't follow, still lightly breathing his brother's name; the only word he could always remember.

Sam was broken.

Sam was damaged and unbalanced and powerful and touched by Lucifer and _his_. Sam was Dean's; had been since he was six months old.

"I'm here Sam. I'm waiting. I'll be here when you get back."

##########################

Stars sing visions and bloody promises in Sam's head. Angels demand, humans pray, shadows purr, and demons rage.

But the only voice Sam always hears clearly is his brother's, waiting for him to come home.


End file.
